Pussy Riot member denied appeal by Russian court

A Russian court has turned down an appeal by jailed Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina, who has requested to serve the remainder of her prison sentence in the future when her 5-year-old son turns 14. She had argued that their separation has damaging his development.

Amnesty International criticized the ruling. “We are clearly deeply disappointed with the decision because basically it’s a further travesty of justice in this case,” Natalia Prilutskaya, a campaigner for Amnesty campaigner Natalia Prilutskaya told Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. “We think that the three girls shouldn’t have been arrested, first of all, and they shouldn’t have been prosecuted in a criminal procedure.”